While many homeowners are spreading chemical weed killers to rid their lawns of dandelions, Verna Mengel is preparing to cultivate them. And, she doesn't even have a lawn.

Mengel, 68, plans to grow the weed in two of four flower boxes on the patio of the Allentown condominium she and her husband moved into nearly a year ago. She'll plant seeds in one box and young plants taken from a friend's field in another.

"A lot of people think of it only as a weed. But I love it," said Mengel.

As she sees it, one man's weed is another man's dinner -- or at least a tasty portion of it. Salad made with dandelion leaves is a regular part of dinner in Mengel's home and has been throughout her life.

She's not alone. For many members of the Lehigh Valley's Pennsylvania German community, the first sign of dandelion in the springtime is not something to dread, but something to welcome.

Just as springtime rejuvenates the soul, dandelion is considered by many of those who love it to be a tonic for good health.

"It's a blood cleanser. You have to have dandelion on Holy Thursday to prevent scurvy, tuberculosis or any other serious illness," said Mengel, who has followed the tradition without fail since her childhood, when home remedies were prevalent. "Even in years when Holy Thursday came early and there was snow on the ground, my mom would just dig under the snow and get just enough so that each of us had a leaf to eat."

Now, Mengel still makes sure that she, her husband and her 93-year-old mother get at least one dandelion leaf to eat each year on Holy Thursday. "I still believe in the old ways," said Mengel. So, she is planting a small crop of her own to guarantee she'll always have a source of dandelion for the holiday and a never-ending supply to eat throughout the year.

Dandelion greens are high in Vitamin A and also are a source of calcium, phosphorous, potassium, sodium and absorbic acid.

Not a native plant, it was brought to this country by immigrants from Europe, where it had long been enjoyed as one of the first greens of spring, according to Rev. Richard Druckenbrod, president of the Pennsylvania German Society.

"The first greens were latched onto quickly back then because food was difficult to preserve," said Rev. Druckenbrod. After the bland diets of winter, those first fresh greens had a cleansing effect on the body that most likely led people to consider it a tonic, he explained.

Eating dandelion certainly wasn't exclusive to Pennsylvania Germans. It was common to others, too, who ate anything that was edible because they had little access to food. It just seems that in this particular area, the Pennsylvania Germans have continued eating it, he added.

Most connoisseurs of dandelion agree that the best time to pick and enjoy it is in the early spring when the leaves are young and tender. Once the plants get large and begin to flower, the leaves become too bitter for most tastes.

"The first dandelion, like the first of every crop, is the best," said Margaret Knoll Gardner of Emmaus.

"Look for skinny plants with no more than seven or eight leaves," advised Naomi Moser, who now resides in Allentown but who learned her dandelion-picking skills as one of eight children who grew up on a farm in Upper Saucon Township.

Even the young, tender leaves are too bitter for some taste buds. In fact, it's sometimes referred to by those who eat it as "bitter lettuce."

The Pennsylvania German term for dandelion is PISS-a-bet, (also spelled Pissebett) according to Mengel, who thinks dandelion might be the kind of food for which you must acquire a taste if you haven't been raised on it. "It's like olives. You have to eat about 11 of them before you start to like them," she said.

For most folks, the season for enjoying dandelion lasts from six to eight weeks. But Mengel has learned to extend the season throughout most of the year by cutting back the leaves on plants to encourage the growth of tender new leaves. Mengel added that the leaves become less bitter again in the autumn after a frost has hit.

Few dandelion enthusiasts cultivate the plant as Mengel does. Most rely on rural fields as a source, even if they have it growing in their own backyards.

"We never picked it from our yard," said Gardner. "It just seemed more appetizing if picked out in the country. Maybe it's because we always had dogs and cats. Of course, we never thought about the skunks or whatever else that might have been saturating the fields.

"Of course, we always rinsed it many, many times, too," added 86-year-old Gardner, whose parents also served dandelion as a spring tonic to purify the blood.

Living in the city hasn't kept Moser from enjoying dandelion. When she can't find it growing in a nearby vacant lot or park, she buys it at the Allentown Farmer's Market. Some other area stores also carry it during the season.

Moser, who finds the unopened buds to be very bitter, discards them. Mengel, on the other hand, says the buds are her favorite part.